Reading of locomotive speed tapes



Feb. 4, P. E. BUETTELL READING OF LOCOMOTIVE SPEED TAZES Filed Aug. 8, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet l P. E. BUETTELL v READING OF LQCOMOTIVE SPEED TAPE.)

Filed Aug. 8, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 4, P. E. BUETTELL READING OF LOCOMOTIVE SPEED TAPES Filed Aug. 8, 19:58

5 Sheets-Sheet 3 m w mw w m i: 2/ 2 I.

mN NN Patented Feb. 4, 1941 Paul E. Buettell, Maywood, Ill.

Application August 8, 1938, Serial No. 223,710

7 Claims.

Ihe present invention relates to a device for reading record tapes and has among its principal objects the following: To provide an effective means for reading record tapes which will substantially reduce the laboriousness and tediousness of tape reading; to provide such a device which is simple to operate and inexpensive to make.

Further and other objects and advantages will become apparent as the disclosure proceeds and the description is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of. the record tape partly unrclled to expose a. portion of a record;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one of the reels on which the record tape is wound;

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the device making up this invention;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the device shown in Fig. 3 with a portion of the handle, used to wind the tape from one reel to the other, broken away;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view of the device taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 5t= of Fig. 4. through the center of the shaft on which one of the reels is mounted.

The specific embodiment of the present invention is selected for the purpose of disclosure only, in compliance with Section 4888 of the Revised Statutes, and the claims are not to be limited beyond what is required by the state of the prior art.

At the present time many of the leading railroads of this country have equipped their passenger locomotives with recording devices adapted to record the speeds at which the locomotives are operated. On each trip one of these records is made on a tape which is caused to move in direct relationship with the movement of the locomotive, and a graphical recording is made by a pencil or pen moving in the plane of the paper in a direction perpendicular to that of the movement of the tape, the position of the pencil on the tape being dependent upon the speed of the locomotive.

These tapes are inserted in the recording device by the yard men before the locomotive leaves the yards prior to a trip, and are removed from the device at the end of the trip. They constitute permanent records so that if ever a question should arise as to the speed at which a certain train was travelling over a specified portion of a particular run, a study of the record tape made on that trip would definitely answer the question.

These records constitute very valuable evidence in law suits which might be brought against the railroad where an issue is negligence on the part of the railroad for operating its train travelling, and even if the records are made, they are inefiective in enforcing speed restrictions unless they are constantly being studied and the violators reprimanded.

At the present time the most common method of examining these records is by merely slowly unreeling each tape and figuring out by measurements and study where the various restricted localities are graphed on the tape. This is a very tedious process but many railroads employ men who do nothing but study these tapes without the aid of any effective labor-saving devices.

The present invention greatly reduces the labor of reading these record tapes and consists broadly of an indexing device which moves in direct relationship with the movement of the tape and indicates restricted speed zones and station points corresponding to the various speed indications on the tape. The particular embodiment chosen includes a bench Ill on the opposite ends of which are mounted reels II and I2, each having a spool 39 carrying one end of a record tape l3, a rotatable table it carrying a disk l5, and a mechanism, generally indicated at it, for causing the table It to rotate in direct relationship with respect to the movement of the tape I3.

The bench If! is made up of a top or working surface ll supported from its four corners by means of legs 18. The reels H and 82 are journalled in horizontal projections l9 and 2!], respectively, extending outwardly from the opposite ends of the table, adjacent to the top, and include shafts 2i and 22, respectively, which are carried by the projections l9 and 29, respectively.

The'reels Ii and i2 and their mountings are identical and, for the purpose of illustration, one only will be described. As shown in Fig. 6, shaft 2| is provided with a flange portion 23 which abuts against the projection l9 as best shown in Fig. 6. This shaft extends through the projection l9 and beyond, as indicated at 24, and is threaded at its extreme end to receive a nut 25 and a lock-nut 26. Between the nut 25 and the projection i9 is inserted a coiled spring 2! and a pair of washers 28 and 29, one on each side of the spring and serving as spring seats. The opposite end of the shaft is threaded, as indicated at 38, to receive'a thumb nut 3i which may be knurled at 32 to afford a surface for gripping. The inner end of the thumb nut 3| is flanged, as indicated at 33. In the end of the shaft 2| is provided a recess 34 for receiving a shaft 35 of a crank 36 and a pair of radial slots 31 for receiving a pair of lugs 38 extending radially from the shaft 35. A spool 33 is mounted on the shaft 2| between the flanges 23 and 33 and is provided with a longitudinal slit 40. The opposite inner faces of the flanges 23 and 33 are provided with conical projections 4| and 42, respectively.

Spaced above the bench top H is a pivotable table assembly which comprises a horizontally disposed plate member 43 and a second plate member 44 positioned above the plate 43. A

pair of blocks 45 and 46 are placed between the plate members 43 and 44 at the opposite ends of the latter plate and are securely held by machine screws 4'1. These blocks 45 and 46 act as spacers between the plates 43 and 44 and add to the sturdiness of the assembly. A post 48 is provided between the two plates and is held in place by a pair of machine screws 49 and 5B. Spaced at opposite corners at the extreme rear side of the plate 43 are two lugs 5| and 52 recessed to receive complementary lugs 53 and 54 which extend upwardly from and are secured to the top surface of the bench top I1. A pin 55 is passed through the lugs 51 and 53 and 52 and 54, respectively, and serve as fulcrum points about which the table assembly pivots. Extending upwardly from the plate member 43 is a shaft 55 which passes through and extends above plate 44. On this shaft is rotatably mounted a sleeve 85 which carries a worm wheel 51 positioned between the plates 43 and 44 and a collar 58 positioned above the plate 44 and provided with a horizontally disposed flange 59 on which is mounted the table l4. The table is secured to the collar by means of rivets, one of which is indicated at 57. The worm wheel 51 and collar 53 are keyed to the sleeve 85 as indicated at 60 and bi, respectively. The shaft is secured to the plate 43 by means of a rivet 62 which extends into a collar 63 positioned between the plate 43 and the worm wheel 51. The upper end of the sleeve 85 is threaded, as shown at 54, so as to receive a thumb nut 65 which is provided with a flange 65 adapted to firmly engage the top surface of the table 14 when the thumb nut is screwed down. The disk 15 is mounted on the table l4 and is held in place by the thumb nut 65.

xtending upwardly from the plate 43 are a pair of bearing blocks 68 and 69 into which is journalled a horizontally disposed shaft 10 which extends beyond the end of the plate 43 to receive a wheel II. This wheel is provided with a collar portion i2 which abuts against the bearing block 68. Between the bearing blocks 68 and 59, and mounted on the shaft l0 is-a gear wheel 13 meshing with a pinion 14 mounted on a shaft 75 which in turn is journalled at one end in'the block 45 and at the other end in the block 46. Mounted on this shaft 15 is a worm wheel 16 which meshes with the worm gear 51. The

plate 43 is slotted at 11 to permit the gear 13 to extend through the plate.

A guide strip 18 is secured to the bench top H and a reading plate 19 is spaced slightly above the bench top I! so as to permit the tape [3 to pass under the plate and a slot is provided in the reading plate so that the wheel H may extend through the plate and rest upon the tape 13. A strip of friction material 8| such as cork, rubber or the like is cemented to the peripheral surface of the wheel H so that a friction contact is provided between the tape I3 and the wheel.

A lug 82 extends upwardly from and is secured to the bench top H by means of a machine screw 83 and to this is pivotally secured an arm 84 which is provided with a projection 85 extending above the top of the lug 82 when the arm is lowered to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5. This projection engages the lower surface of the plate 43 when the arm 84 is in this lowered position.

The operation of the reading device is as follows:

To begin with, the arm 84 is in the lowered position, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 5,

I so that the table assembly is raised and the friction wheel TI is out of engagement with the bench top H. The spool 39 carrying a record tape is mounted on the right hand reel l I and the thumb nut 3| is screwed into place and is turned until the conical projection 42 forces the spool 39 up against the cooperating conical projection 4| extending from the inner face of the flange 23. The tape is then pulled across the bench top H, threaded underneath the reading plate 19 and then is inserted into the slot 40 of a second spool mounted on the reel [2. The thumb nut 3llocated on this second reel is tightened and the crank 33 is inserted in the end of the shaft 22 and is turned in a counter-clockwise direction a suflicient amount to start the tape winding upon the second spool. Now that the tape i3 is in its proper position on the reading device, the table assembly is raised slightly, the arm 84 is pivoted upwardly into the position shown in solid lines in Fig. '5 and then the table assembly is lowered so that the friction wheel H is resting on the tape IS. A disk 15, on which is indicated the route taken by the train whose record tape is bein examined, is placed upon the rotatable table l4 and the thumb nut 65 is screwed into place. The position of the disk 15 must be made to correspond with the position of the tape l3 and this is done by placing a known point, indicated on the record tape 13, underneath the reading edge 85 of the reading plate 19 and then the station indicated on the disk corresponding to this point is placed under a needle point 81 which extends upwardly from and is secured to the plate 43. After this adjustment is made the thumb nut 65 is tightened. The device is now in condition for use in examining the record tape.

The crank 36 is turned in a counterclockwise direction which causes the tape l3 to move from right to left across the bench top 79 and since the wheel ll frictionally engages this tape, rotary motion is imparted through this wheel to the gear and pinion drive and thence to the worm wheel 16 and worm gear 51. Since this worm wheel is keyed to the shaft 56 rotary motion is transmitted to the shaft thus causing the rotatable table I4 with its disk E5, to revolve about the axis 55. The stations are indicated by the letters A, B, C, D, etc., on the disk l5 and the reading of the portion of the record tape positioned directly under the rotating edge of the plate 19 will give the speed at which the train was travelling at the time it was passing the particular station indicated on the disk l4 directly under the needle point 8?.

The direction of the movement of the tape 13 can very readily be reversed by simply removing the crank from the end of the shaft l2 and inserting it into the end of shaft I and then turning itin a clockwise direction.

The operation of the reading device is extremly simple and the results which are obtained from its use are very accurate. Often times record tapes show false readings caused by slippage of the locomotive wheels and such readings tend to place the disk and record tape out of cooperative relationship with each other. It is a very simple matter to remedy the condition, however, by merely loosening the thumb nut 65 and adjusting the position of the disk on the table I 4.

A typical record tape, indicated in Fig. 1, shows a series of longitudinal lines spaced transversely ofthe tape which are numbered to correspond to various speeds of the locomotive. Spaced longitudinally of the tape at definite intervals are transverse lines which indicate mileage and, for the purpose of illustration, the spaces between the lines indicate five miles. The irregular line passing over the tape was made by the speed recording device in the locomotive and indicates the speed at which the locomotive was travelling over the route taken by the train.

The shaft 2! should rotate freely in its hearing but must not be held too securely. This tension is adjustable by varying the pressure against the spring 27. This adjustment is made by turning the nuts 25 and 26.

Speed restricted zones may be indicated on the disk so that violations can readily be detected.

I claim as my invention:

1. A device for reading record tapes including a rotatable carrier for moving the tape, a scaled rotatable disk mounted in cooperative relationship with respect to the tape, means comprising a rotatable friction disk frictionally engaging said tape for rotating the disk in direct relationship With the linear movement of the tape, an indicator in proximity to the tape to permit reading of the tape, an indicator in proximity to the disk and adjacent to the first named indicator to permit reading of the disk, and means whereby the relative positions of the tape and disk may be adjusted.

2. The combination of a tape bearing a graphical record of speed thereon, a rotatable carrier, means for operating the carrier continuously for moving the tape, a scaled movable index member mounted in cooperative relationship with respect to the tape, means including a rotatable friction member engaging said tape and rotated by the movement of said tape for moving the index member in direct relationship with respect to the movement of the tape, an indicator to aid the reading of the scale on the index member, an indicator for aiding the reading of the record on the tape, and means for adjusting the relative positions of the tape and index member.

3. A device for reading record tapes including a rotatable carrier for moving the tape, a scaled rotatable disk mounted in cooperative relationship with respect to the tape, means including a rotatable friction member engaging said tape and a drive from said member to said disk for rotating said disk at a predetermined speed relation to the linear travel of said tape, an indicator coacting with the tape, an indicator coacting with the disk, and means whereby the relative positions of the tape and disk may be adjusted.

4. A device for reading record tapes comprising, in combination, a bench having a working surface, a rotatable carrier mounted on the bench, a record tape having a speed graph for a predeterminedmileage thereon extending across the working surface and carried by the rotatable carrier, means for operating said rotatable carrier for moving the tape across the working surface, a rotatable table supported by the bench, mechanism for rotating the table in .direct relationship to the movement of the tape across the working surface, a disk mounted on, and rotatable with, said table and having geographical points corresponding to said mileage indicated thereon, indicator means for indicating the position of the disk on the table, and indicator means for indicating the position of the tape across the working surface, whereby upon the operation of said device, the speed at any geographical point is indicated by said indicator means.

5. A device for reading record tapes having speed graphs thereon including a support for the device provided with a working surface, a record tape having a speed graph only thereon, a rotatable carrier, means for operating the carrier for moving the tape longitudinally of itself across the working surface, a rotatable disk mounted on the support above the working surface, a'drive connection between the tape and the disk for rotating the disk in direct relationship to the movement of the tape, said connection being operated by the movement of the tape, said disk and tape being movable continuously during the operation of said device, indicating means for aiding the reading of the graph on the tape, in dioating means for aiding the reading of the disk, and means whereby the relative positions of the tape and. disk may be adjusted.

6. In a device for reading record tapes indicating speed records, the combination of a tape bearing a graphical record of speed thereon, a rotatable carrier, means for operating the carrier continuously during the operation of said device for moving the tape longitudinally of itself continuously during said operation, a scaled rotatable disk having station locations indicated theneon, said disk being mounted in cooperative relationship with respect to the tape, means frictionally engaging the tape and driving the disk in direct times relationship with respect to the movement of the tape, an indicator for aiding the reading of the scale on the disk, an indicator for aiding the reading of the tape, and means whereby the relative positions of the tape and movable member may be adjusted.

7. The combination of a tape bearing a graphical record of speed thereon, a rotatable carrier, means whereby the carrier may be operated continuously for moving the tape longitudinally of itself, a scaled movable index member mounted in cooperative relationship with respect to the tape, means eng g g said tape and operated by the movement thereof for moving the index member in direct relationship with respect to the movement of the tape, an indicator to aid the reading of the scale on the index member, an indioator for aiding the reading of the record on the tape, and means for moving said tape-engaging means out of contact with said tape whereby the relative positions of said tape and said second named means may be adjusted.

PAUL E. BUE'ITELL. 

